Day: August 17, 2021

GENEVA – The World Health Organization has begun giving the Ebola vaccine to high-risk people in Ivory Coast, after a woman was diagnosed with the Ebola virus in Abidjan.

On Saturday, Ivory Coast declared its first case of Ebola in more than 25 years. An 18-year-old woman who arrived by bus from Guinea in Abidjan, a city of nearly five million inhabitants, was found to be infected with the deadly virus.

Officials have responded swiftly. Within 48 hours after the outbreak was declared, they began vaccinating people who had contact with the Ebola patient, as well as first responders and health workers.

World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the vaccination campaign was able to get off the ground quickly because surplus vaccine doses the WHO had used to fight a four-month-long outbreak in Guinea were rapidly sent to Ivory Coast.

“This swift response is a reminder of how crucial preparedness and surveillance are to minimize the potential damage and to try to limit and to stop the spread of the virus by breaking that transmission chain,” he said.

The 18-year-old patient is currently receiving treatment in a local hospital, Jasarevic said, adding that health officials are tracing the nine people with whom she had come in contact. There is one suspect case.

Jasarevic added there is no indication the cases of Ebola in Ivory Coast are linked to the monthslong Ebola outbreak in Guinea earlier this year.

“Preliminary investigations and genomic sequencing to identify the strain show that there is a close link to the 2014 to 2016 outbreak in West Africa,” he said. “And we are probably looking here at the Zaire strain of the virus as well. Now, further investigations are needed really to confirm these early results.”

Since the Ebola outbreak was declared in Guinea in mid-February, WHO has been helping six countries, including Ivory Coast, prepare for a potential outbreak. This includes support in disease surveillance and screenings at border crossings, as well as setting up rapid response teams and improving testing and treatment.

An Ebola outbreak centered on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone killed more than 11,000 people between 2014 and 2016.

Source: Voice of America

BLANTYRE, MALAWI – Malawi president Lazarus Chakwera has urged southern African leaders to increase efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic and called on wealthy nations to stop hoarding vaccine.

The Malawi leader was speaking at the annual summit of the 16-member Southern African Development Community in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.

Speaking during the televised function Tuesday, Chakwera, who is also SADC’s current chairperson, said it was concerning that, despite the devastating social and economic impact of the COVID-19, wealthy nations continue hoarding vaccine.

Statistics show that less than 2% of Africa’s population is fully vaccinated. That is low compared with the rest of the world.

Chakwera blamed it on inequalities and disparities in the distribution and production of COVID-19 vaccine.

He said it is symptomatic of an old geopolitical framework that regards some human lives as more worthy of saving than others.

“Our message to those countries that perpetuate and promote those frameworks is simple, ‘You are using a failed and tired formula’. African countries are full members of the global community, period,” Chakwera said. “As such for the sake of human dignities everywhere, we as African have a moral duty to refuse to be treated as second-class citizens.”

Chakwera said that thinking would make it difficult for the region to reach herd immunity and reduce high infection rates.

Dr. Vera Songwe is executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She said the Africa Vaccines Acquisition Task Team, put together by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, has procured 400 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for the continent.

Songwe also said Africa needs to do more than just procure vaccine.

“We also need to produce on the continent,” Songwe said. “SADC region is demonstrating its capacity do that by starting in South Africa with production of vaccines in South Africa. This is for us, as a continent I think, a first demonstration that Africa coming together can effectively [go] forward better sustainably in the crisis.”

The summit also aims to promote regional trade and building a regional defense force after its first deployment to fight insurgents in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.

Speaking through a translator, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi thanked the SADC for authorizing the deployment.

“We congratulate countries of the region for the brotherhood and prompt solidarity demonstrated by the deployment of SADC standby force capabilities in the spirit of SADC Mutual Defense Pact which as launched on the 9th August 2021 in Pemba city,” Nyusi said.

Nyusi said he would speak more on the issue during a closed-door session.

The summit is expected to end Wednesday when a communiqué on resolutions will be read.

Source: Voice of America